As District 94 Superintendent Doug Domeracki pointed out in his email and post of August 23, “Two types of student clubs and activities exist at WCCHS; those clubs and activities with formal sponsor positions included in Appendix B of the teacher’s negotiated agreement that receive District funding, and those clubs with volunteer sponsors.” The contractual agreement between the Board of Education and the Teachers’ Association provides for a committee to regularly review clubs with volunteer sponsors and make recommendations for funding these organizations through Appendix B, but this committee has not been convened by the district for approximately eight years. Thus, many sponsors who have worked with new student clubs and activities have long been volunteering their services to students without being recognized through compensation in the same way as paid sponsors. Below is a synopsis of what each of these organizations is and has done in service to students and the community.

Highlighting this inequity was only one motivation for the West Chicago High School Teachers’ Association vote to suspend faculty participation as volunteer sponsors. This action was also taken to help open a broader conversation with the community about Board of Education decisions and how those decisions affect students and the community. In an August 30 article in the school’s student newspaper, Mr. Saake was quoted in relation to the Teachers’ Association action as saying, “I look at their actions as being highly unprofessional. To put the students in the middle of this, it’s just not right.” As information herein demonstrates, when it comes to the Board of Education’s decisions, the students are always in the middle, and under this Board’s priorities and actions the students have been losing. The teachers at West Chicago High School have long been giving more of themselves in spite of the Board’s decisions and believes the community should be aware of the contributions they have been making.